In the old forests of the Pacific Northwest, several thousand brown, spotted birds are a little safer than they used to be. That's because the U.S. government has declared the northern spotted owl a threatened species.
Since 1973, when the U.S. Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had the power to place animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct on a special list. Since then, more than 400 species have been labeled endangered, and more than 130 are considered threatened.Once living things are placed on the endangered or threatened species list, the government comes up with a plan for protecting them. This can mean banning hunting or trade in their fur or meat and protecting the habitats where they live.
Northern spotted owls aren't endangered - yet. But there are about 3,000 breeding pairs of the owls left in their special habitat, the old forests in Washington, Oregon and northern California. Those forests are the only place on earth where this particular owl lives.
If the number of northern spotted owls goes down much more, scientists say, they will become endangered. They'll be another step closer to extinction.
Extinction happens when all the animals of one kind die out. Then there are no adults left to have young. When a species can't reproduce itself, it disappears. In North America, this has already happened to the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet and the Labrador duck, among other bird species.
Sometimes animals go extinct because people hunt them too much. Or their habitat disappears as people build more towns and plant more fields. Then the animals have no place to live. For example, when a marsh is drained to build houses, hundreds of birds have no place left to build nests, find food, hide from enemies or raise their young. And unlike people, many animals can't just pick up and move. Their habits are suited for one particular place - and they can't change, or adapt, to another environment.
Many people worry about losing animal and plant species forever. But sometimes efforts to save a species cause problems for people. For example, putting the northern spotted owl on the "threatened" list has led to controversy. The forests the owls live in are valuable for more than just the beauty of their tall old cedar, fir and redwood trees. Protecting the owls may mean no more logging in the old forests of the northwest.
In June, government officials announced partial plans for protecting the owl. They said that timber harvests on land the government owns in Oregon and northern California will be reduced. And they said that a committee has been formed to come up with a final plan to protect the owls.
"We have set in motion a process to balance our responsibility in preserving the owl and forests, while protecting the economic lives of men and women who live and work in the region," said Clayton Yeutter, the U.S. secretary of agriculture.
Over the next 10 years, protecting the forests could mean thousands of lost jobs for loggers in California, Oregon and Washington. Some people feel the jobs are more important than saving the owls; others feel the owls must be saved, and that people can find other jobs. What do you think?
Since the endangered-species list was started during the 1970s, there have been success stories. One of them involves the bald eagle. About 20 years ago, the bald eagle was practically extinct. In 1960, there were only about 400 pairs of eagles left throughout the United States. Once, there had been more than 50,000 pairs.
What happened? A chemical called DDT, which was widely used to kill bugs that harmed crops, got into the water supply. Fish soaked up DDT that drifted into lakes and streams; they died and washed ashore. Then bald eagles ate the contaminated fish.
The DDT in the fish affected the eagles in an unusual way. When they laid eggs, the eggshells were too thin. Before the eaglets hatched out, the eggs shattered. So few new eagles were being born.
In 1972, DDT was banned. Biologists went to Alaska and Canada and captured healthy bald eagles to release in the "lower 48" states. Slowly, the eagle population recovered.
The bald eagle has come back so well that the birds of prey may be moved from the endangered list to the threatened list. Whatever happens, it will still be illegal to hunt eagles or to disturb their nests.
By last year, the bird had made quite a comeback. In 1989, bird watchers counted some 11,000 bald eagles. That's cause for celebration. After all, the bald eagle is our national bird.